Who wants to hear a story? Over 90% of people.

Research has shown that 92% of consumers prefer advertising that feels like a story. Another study found that 75% believe that brands should use storytelling in their marketing. Narrative and emotionally driven stories increase our recollection of facts, make interactions more memorable, boost motivation and generate oxytocin: the so-called ‘love chemical’ that promotes feelings of affection, empathy and trust.

But these are facts and statistics. People, as we have just established, want stories. So, let’s tell a story.

[Learn how powerful storytelling can secure market share: download the guide]

The Pepsi paradox: the power of storytelling over statistics in marketing

In 1975, Pepsi, a market challenger in the beverage market, launched The Pepsi Challenge, inviting consumers to blind taste test their product against industry giant Coca-Cola. Most of them chose Pepsi, kickstarting a long-running campaign whereby Pepsi ‘proved’,time and time again, that it tasted better than the market leader, Coca-Cola.

Which is why today, Pepsi is …the second highest selling carbonated water and sugar beverage in the world.

That’s right. Despite people admitting that Pepsi tastes better, Coca-Cola consistently holds the top spot when it comes to sales, by a sizeable margin. Why? Why continue to give your money to a brand despite an apparently ‘superior’ product being available?

Pepsi may have presented a great statistic in their advertising, but they couldn’t compete with Coca-Cola’s storytelling. Coca-Cola is seen as traditional, classic, nostalgic. Years of well-crafted campaigns and beautiful branding have made it synonymous with summer days, moments with family, glass bottles clinking together and smiling faces. It is unity, it is celebration, it is friendship, it is Christmas, for pity’s sake. How do you go toe-to-toe with that?

You can’t, at least not with a statistic. ‘More people like the taste of Pepsi than Coca-Cola’ just cannot compete with the warm, fuzzy feeling of the festooned Coca-Cola lorry rolling on to your TV screen in December.

There is even an argument that stories are so powerful, they can subtly change the way we taste food or drinks (there is a fantastic article on this subject in Forbes here). Perhaps Coco-Colareally does taste betterfor being wrapped in its distinctive red branding.

Either way, the nut of this story is that Pepsi’s focus on the facts was not enough to challenge the deep psychological triggers that consistent storytelling has instilled in Coca-Cola buyers. Which is why, when it comes to an impulse buy at the checkout, it’s the red can that often wins, and Coca-Cola that continues to dominate market share.

What businesses can use storytelling in marketing?

Consumer brands have been using storytelling to connect with audiences for decades, even centuries. Victorian-era advertising was rife with emotive language and imagery, narratives that wove compelling stories around even the most mundane products (Pears soap, and their innovative use of influencer marketing with actress Lillie Langtry, is a great example of this). The 1950s-60s saw the golden age of advertising, with brands striving to strike that emotional resonance with their consumers despite having limited opportunities to connect with them. When one billboard and a strong brand was all marketers had to work with, story became everything.

Today, storytelling continues to be a core tenet of consumer marketing. With more avenues to share those stories than ever before, brands are spinning omnichannel narratives that combine social media, video, written content, immerse experiences and influencers, creating narratives that buyers live and breathe. Think of a brand like Red Bull that has turned marketing into a fully immersive narrative experience, with sprawling content strategies and complex lifestyle connections (such as their involvement in alternative sports and racing) that make them more than just a logo on a product.

Yet storytelling is not just for consumer products. Whether you’re selling to an individual or to a business, your decision-maker is still a human being. When we go to work, we don’t leave our emotions at the door. We feel all the same things we do in the rest of our lives: happiness, sadness, frustration, anger, joy, triumph, even love. The only difference is that we are at work, not scrolling on our phones in our sitting room.

All of those incredible outcomes from storytelling – boosted memorability, empathy, affection, motivation – still apply whether you are selling a can of drink or a SaaS subscription. The methods may need to be slightly different (you have to connect with far more stakeholders when you’re selling B2B than B2C, but Nutcracker can help you to streamline that B2B sales strategy) but the power of storytelling remains the same.

Make storytelling part of your sales strategy

There is scientific evidence to suggest that storytelling can commercially benefit your brand, but creating a consistent and compelling story that actually worksisn’t easy. It has to be strategic, creative and targeted. If you’re interested in finding out how to make storytelling part of your marketing strategy — and importantly, how to get it drive real results for your business — download our guide.

Claiming market share: a proven, practical approach to growth, even in a tough market.